End of generation at West Burton A
West Burton A closed at midnight on 31 March 2023, completing an agreement signed with National Grid ESO last year. The station and its workforce have fulfilled the request to have 400MW available through Winter 2022 to 2023 as an emergency standby option and from 1 April the whole station moved into full decommissioning.
The coal-fired power station in North Nottinghamshire has been a terrific servant for UK plc since 1966 (57 years) it has supplied electricity and a great debt of gratitude is owed to all the people that have worked there over the years. During its 57 years of operation, West Burton ran four 500MW units with a total generation of 491,792 GWh, which is enough to power 164 million houses for a year or every house in London for 44 years. The last Generation took place Tuesday 7 March 2023 with both remaining units (1 and 2) delivering the last of the station’s power to Grid.
Decommissioning will now take place at the West Burton A site, removing oil and fuel from the plant and terminating any power connections. Once this is complete by December 2023, the principal demolition contract partners will work on removing structures from the site until it is at ground level.
This is an end of an era with the site handing over the legacy of generation to the power of the future. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) plan to build the UK’s first ever prototype fusion power station at West Burton.
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EDF is driving the transition towards An Electric Britain – a secure, affordable, low-carbon future for everyone. As Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity, we are investing more than £100 million weekly in Britain’s electricity infrastructure. We supply millions of customers with electricity and help homes and businesses switch to electricity for heating, transport and industrial processes.
We operate five nuclear power stations and more than 35 onshore wind farms and three offshore wind farms. Since 2009, EDF has invested almost £9 billion in the nuclear fleet to improve reliability and extend station lifetimes. The five generating stations currently supply about 12% of the UK’s electricity demand.
EDF is building the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C. We are a minority investor (12.5%) in and major supplier to a replica plant at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will provide low carbon electricity to meet 14% of UK demand and power around 12 million homes. EDF Group companies Framatome and Arabelle Solutions have a presence in the UK and manufacture critical equipment such as reactor pressure vessels and turbines.
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It is also one of the UK’s leading developers of renewable energy through EDF power solutions UK and Ireland. We have more than 2GW of renewable generation in operation and over 10GW in construction, planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage.
We are one of the largest suppliers to British business and a leading supplier of innovative energy solutions that are helping businesses become more energy independent. In addition, the company’s energy services business, Dalkia, is one of the UK and Ireland’s largest technical service providers.
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